GREAT COMPETITION IN LONATO'S 27TH ANDREA MARGUTTI TROPHY

11/03/2016

Free practice of Friday already highlighted the first protagonists of the traditional international event run in the name of Andrea Margutti. Qualifying and heats scheduled for Saturday, Prefinals and Finals for Sunday.

The 27th Andrea Margutti Trophy kicked off at the South Garda Karting circuit of Lonato. The traditional race organized by Parma Karting that is part of the CIK-FIA international calendar, is ready to live another edition with all the interest that has always been characterizing this event.

The renewed 1.200 meters of the Lonato circuit is all set to host the 157 verified drivers out of the 165 entered, which will represent 25 countries in the four categories of the event: KZ2, OK, OK Junior and 60 Mini. This race has once again confirmed the attention that it deserves to properly remember the Italian driver from Rome Andrea Margutti, who passed away early on October 14th 1989 in Parma.

A preview of the spectacle ahead has taken place in free practice on Friday, as a lot of names came to the fore and are all set for the challenge of qualifying and heats that will follow on Saturday and for the final stages to be held on Sunday 13 March.

The German Alexander Schmitz (Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) of team KSM run by former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher, excelled so far in KZ2 posting the quickest time in 45.461s, after being third at the Margutti Trophy last year. A lot of drivers put their name forward to become the protagonists of the “queen” category though. Some of these are Mirko Torsellini (Exprit), who is at the debut with RB Racing, the two CKR drivers Alessandro Pelizzari and Enrico Bernardotto, Giacomo Pollini (CRG), Francesco Celenta (Formula K), Douglas Lundberg (Mach1), Gianmarco Ercoli (PCR), Leonardo Lorandi (Tony Kart), Luca Tilloca (GP), Massimo Dante and Tommaso Mosca on Maranello, Daniel Stell (CRG) and Alberto Cavalieri (Maranello). These drivers are all within a few thousands of a second in the provisional standings and are ready to score an important result.

The Russian Alexander Smolyar (Tony Kart-Vortex-Vega) has been the quickest in the final two sessions of OK in 46.309s, while the first two sessions saw the Dane Mads Damiund (Tony Kart) and his fellow country-man Emil Dose (Kosmic) on top.

A surprise in OK Junior came from the French driver Pierre Chovet, who is at the debut with CRG works team, and set the quickest time in 47.563s on CRG-Parilla-Vega. Other drivers came to the fore in the previous sessions, like the Dane Noah Watt (Tony Kart), the Russian Ivan Shvetsov (Tony Kart), the Chinese Jlanian Zheng (Tony Kart) and the Spanish Civico Genis (Croc).

The crowded 60 Mini saw 55 drivers at the start. The quickest loop so far has been completed by Luca Giardelli (Tony Kart-Lke-Vega) in 54.565s. The other best times have been set by Francesca Raffaele (Evokart), the Russian Andrev Zhivnov (Energy), Federico Cecchi (CRG), the other Russian Rusian Fomin (Tony Kart), Francesco Pizzi (Energy), Riccardo Camplese (CRG) and Luca Bosco (Tony Kart). A lot of racers are anyway all set to slide in the protagonists of the 27th Andrea Margutti Trophy in this very competitive category.

The names of the main contenders to the final victory will come out from Saturday's qualifying in the morning and most of all from the afternoon heats. Prefinals and Finals will follow on Sunday 13 March.

The programme (CET):Saturday 12 March:
Official practice from 8:00hrs.
Qualifying from 9:40hrs.
Heats from 12:20hrs.Sunday 13 March:
Warm Up from 8:30hrs.
Second chance races from 10:30hrs.
Prefinal OK: at 11.30hrs.
Drivers presentation: at 12.30hrs.
Prefinals at 13:30hrs (Mini); at 13:50hrs (OKJ); at 14:20hrs (KZ2).
Finals at 14:50hrs (Mini); at 15:20hrs (OKJ); at 15:50hrs (OK); at 16:25hrs (KZ2).
Prize Ceremonies from 17:30hrs.